The Stethoscope

He says doctors used to get praise if they had the ‘ear’ to hear and interpret the subtle body sounds that travel through a stethoscope’s rubber tubing; the stethoscope is the iconic symbol of a physician.

But some argue that the stethoscope is becoming less useful in this digital age. Dr. Bret Nelson, an emergency medicine physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, says clinicians now get a lot more information from newer technology.

An ultrasound, for example, …
He admits the stethoscope is an icon but doesn’t buy the argument that if you lose the stethoscope, you lose the tradition of “healing touch.”